Member Since: 5/4/2011
Posts: 2,464
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But WAIT. This was the beginning of it all, and it hasn't been posted here yet.
Quote:
According to TMZ, Lisa Jackson, the former general manager at the brother-sister-owned restaurant Uncle Bubba's Seafood and Oyster House in Savannah, Georgia, claims that Deen and Hiers made offensive, sexist and racist comments over the course of the five years she worked there, from 2005 to 2010.
Among the most damaging claims are that Hiers would "download and view" ****ography websites at work, kissed/spit at Jackson's face and asked her to "bring photos of herself when she was young for him to view." Hiers also allegedly made repeated comments about other female employees' weight and personal sex life. (In response to one female employee getting dentures, Hiers allegedly said "I bet your husband is going to like that.")
Most shockingly, the lawsuit (which can be read in its entirety at RadarOnline) alleges that Deen and her brother are terrible racists. When asked by Jackson what the attire would be for a catered event in 2007, Deen allegedly answered:
"Well what I would really like is a bunch of little n***ers to wear long-sleeve white shirts, black shorts and black bow ties, you know in the Shirley Temple days, they used to tap dance around… Now, that would be a true Southern wedding wouldn't it? But we can't do that because the media would be on me about that."
The list goes on and on.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...n_1321679.html
That is what led to the deposition.
Quote:
Lawyer: What about jokes, if somebody is telling a joke that's got --
Deen: It's just what they are, they're jokes.
Lawyer: Okay. Would you consider those to be using the N word in a mean way?
…
Deen: That's -- that's kind of hard. Most -- most jokes are about Jewish people, rednecks, black folks. Most jokes target -- I don't know. I didn't make up the jokes, I don't know. I can't -- I don't know.
Lawyer: Okay.
Deen: They usually target, though a group. Gays or straights, black, redneck, you know, I just don't know. I can't, myself, determine what offends another person.
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Quote:
Lawyer: Do you recall using the words “really southern plantation wedding”? Deen: Yes, I did say I would love for Bubba to experience a very southern style wedding, and we did that. We did that.
Lawyer: Okay. You would love for him to experience a southern style plantation wedding?
Deen: Yes.
Lawyer: That’s what you said?
Deen: Well, something like that, yes. And -–
Laywer: Okay. And is that when you went on to describe the experience you had at the restaurant in question?
Deen: Well, I don’t know. We were probably talking about the food or –- we would have been talking about something to do with service at the wedding, and –-
...
Lawyer: Is there any possibility, in your mind, that you slipped and used the word “n----r”?
Deen: No, because that’s not what these men were. They were professional black men doing a fabulous job.
Lawyer: Why did that make it a -– if you would have had servers like that, why would that have made it a really southern plantation wedding?
...
Deen: Well, it –- to me, of course I’m old but I ain’t that old, I didn’t live back in those days but I’ve seen the pictures, and the pictures that I’ve seen, that restaurant represented a certain era in America.
Lawyer: Okay.
Deen: And I was in the south when I went to this restaurant. It was located in the south.
Lawyer: Okay. What era in America are you referring to?
Deen: Well, I don’t know. After the Civil War, during the Civil War, before the Civil War.
Lawyer: Right. Back in an era where there were middle-aged black men waiting on white people.
Deen: Well, it was not only black men, it was black women.
Lawyer: Sure. And before the Civil War –- before the Civil War, those black men and women who were waiting on white people were slaves, right?
Deen: Yes, I would say that they were slaves.
Lawyer: Okay.
Deen: But I did not mean anything derogatory by saying that I loved their look and their professionalism.
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Not the "It's just a joke" cop-out.
She shouldn't be crucified for this. But she should be held accountable. She deserve a punishment for racism in the workplace that is appropriate for the extent of the racism committed by her (if any), and committed under her, that was to her knowledge, that went unaddressed (if any). Same with her brother regarding any of his misconduct. 
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